In some of the United States’ best-known mountain towns such as Telluride, Aspen, Salt Lake City County and Truckee, McMillan paints a far bleaker picture.

Suicide rates at three times the national average in places like Aspen, broken down ski bums and those seemingly surrounded by great wealth they feel like the archetypal man lost at sea with water everywhere and not a drop to drink.

In the US McMillan put it down to: “a culture of rugged individualism, access to firearms, lack of mental health care, and the isolation that results from communities and homes spread across wide swaths of land.”

There is also the whole notion of seasonal jobs, the lack of real social attachment and simply that: “the mere notion of living in paradise can amplify one’s feelings of depression and isolation”.

So what’s it like for the Australian equivalents?

To be honest it’s a bit harder to get a handle on. While the definition of ‘mountain towns’ are on a far smaller scale here, the statistics actually take in far broader areas. Clearly the accessibility to firearms is also less of an issue in Australia.

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1 Comment

ned
June 15, 2016

it’s not much different than most rural farming communities. people that live in a ski town are “snow farmers.” their fortunes are tied to whether mother nature delivers the goods. one or 2 bad years in a row can put people into significant financial strife. shops have to stock the latest and greatest, and that changes every year. I know this first hand as I grew up in a ski resort town and my family still has a ski shop there. there are many parallels between farming communities and ski towns.